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This is one the best Star Trek books I have ever read. The plot presents just the right amount of humor and action without compromising a wonderfully woven plot. The difficulties that the crew of "our" Enterprise has in assimilating the other culture are realistic and really make the reader feel as if he is literally in the story. And there is nothing wrong in the image of Deanna Troi in a skimpy uniform. This book really portrays the Mirror universe as seen in "Mirror-Mirror" not as the DS9 episodes. The intricate storyline would have made an excellent episode.

This is the biggest missed chance in trek history. No seriously. This is one of the greatest trek novels ever and could have made a superb arc over two or more TNG episodes. Certainly it makes better use of he Mirror universe concept than DS9 ever did and it would be worth the price just for Troi's outfit. A damn fine read and (at least in England) just 1.50 in many local second hand book shops. Buy it then wonder why they did'nt use it as a script. Best bit's: The mirror crew in general Picards message of hope to mirror Worf Troi acting evil. The history Picard studies which gives a very good view of just how this mess started. Worst bit's: Nothing really bad springs to mind.

While the story was very well-done and the mirror characters thoughtfully written, this book is a clear example (and it is unfortunate) that virtually none of the books are canon. The entire thing is basically contradicted by DS9's treatment of the mirror universe, for good or ill. With that enormous caveat in mind, there are a few nit-picks, as one can find with any Star Trek book if you are really obsessed. For example, the treatment of the mirror universe was very similar to the treatment that the Original Series gave it, as far as characterization. However, in the episode the technologies (at least as far as the ships are concerned) are identical. In this book, the mirror Enterprise is far superior tactically, and in terms of performance. Basically, if DS9's version of events is true (and it is canon), the level of technology should be the same or even less, as a basic premise of Star Trek is that openness and freedom foster development better than militarism. This book unfortunatlely gives the exact opposite impression. Simply put, this story simply does not fit with the mirror universe as Trek has developed it. In 20/20 hindsight, a better story would have pitted the mirror Enterprise against a newborn Cardassian-Klingon Alliance, and is fighting a losing battle, needing the technology of the 'real' Enterprise to restore the Terran Empire. Long story short, if you like continuity and the mirror universe, this is not the book for you, try Shatner's treatment of it in his later books. If you like the speculative storytelling, and the interesting character development, this book is worth a look, but keep the salt handy.

Forget, for the moment, those annoyingly bad DS9 Mirror Universe episodes. Forget the Mirror Universe in ENT. Pick up this novel, and experiance a treat. For one, this novel fits well into the Trek lore that was created in "Mirror, Mirror," with a savage Enterprise mirroring our lovely ship, but with a twist this time: the Terran Empire seeks to conquer our universe, and thus pull our Enterprise into ours. Without spoiling the story, the plot is very fast paced, very suspenseful, and very amusing. The villains (the evil crew) is actually a credible threat, and make you wonder about what might have been. Best of all, though, is that there are actually simmilarities between the crews, which lead to disturbing revelations... A must have, though severely dated by the half-baked Mirror Universe pieces of DS9. Igore those, though: you will enjoy this better if you do.

Of course this book handles the "Mirror Universe" with its evil orientation to everything good in "our" Trek-Universe better than it was done in DS9. But on the other hand this book is at least a bit annoying in terms of being a bit too much "freestyle". The dolphin-scientist appears like borrowed from Sea Quest and the humour around him isn't that funny. Then the author seems a bit a victim of the "nitpicking-phenomena" because she takes sometimes too long efforts to discuss why things happen and why for example a nitpicker shouldn't be able to crush it as illogical. Furthermore she builts up a big thing about the involved technical and scientific background which is very much phantasy but shall occur like logic in itself. The characters (of "our Trek of course) occur to me not really well portraied as known from the series but too unfamiliar while not giving a satisfying alternative for only in the book. Result of my review: The book is most of the time good to read and to enjoy but I would have liked to see a number of things on the one hand being written shorter without delaying dramaturgy for ultimate logic reasons and on the other hand the "normal" characters more according to their behaviour in the series. So a three of six from me because there were other books I enjoyed clearly more.

This remains one of my favorite Trek novels of all time. Aside from some of the expectedly-cheesy technobabble, the writing is strong in all areas: Plot, storyline, character development & interactions, etc. Its only real weakness -- as pointed out by other reviewers here -- is that it doesn't fit in wit the newer "mirror universe" episodes from DS9. However, if you simply view this book as taking place in a similar universe ("Mirror Universe B", perhaps), it works very very well. A must-read for fans of both TNG *and* those who liked the original "Mirror, Mirror" episode from TOS.

I went in knowing that this book was written years before the DS9 crossover episodes, so I wasn't expecting it to stay in the confines of what was established there. This novel deals with our Kirk's impact on Mirror Spock in a totally different way, and that's ok. The story itself was interesting and fit in well with what we know of the Mirror Universe from "Mirror Mirror" and I did like the dolphin character Hwii swimming around in his own little bubble of water. There wasn't as much interaction between "our" crew and "their" crew as I had hoped. It was mostly LaForge, Troi and Picard sneaking around the ISS Enterprise to steal data. And speaking of data, the author decided that there shouldn't be a mirror Data! I would have been very interested in reading about an "evil" Data, and what about his brother Lore? The ending buttoned things up adequately with a big chunk of technobabble. Overall, a well written book but with a few missed opportunities.